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Saturday, June 28, 2014

BEHIND THE SCENES

The shaky truce in East Ukraine has been extended with both the army and
anti-government fighters promising to recognize it. The ceasefire,
which has been in place for a week, is part of attempts to bring peace
to the region. RT's Maria Finoshina saw first-hand what Eastern Ukraine
is like amid the promised 'peace'.

FORUM IN BATH SUPPORTS REDIRECTION OF MILITARY SPENDING

We had 100 people turn out last night in Bath for the public forum on
Maine's growing dependence on military spending. A three-woman panel of
speakers did a good job putting our present situation in context and
offered ideas for ways we can begin to deal with our state's economic addiction to military spending.

The key take away was that we need more local discussion across the
state about how military spending is capital intensive - meaning that
federal spending on military production creates fewer jobs than any
other kind of investment. Studies have long revealed that if we put our
tax dollars into building green technology, health care, education, rail systems,
road and bridge repair, etc we'd in every case get more jobs. You can
see the study here

You'd think elected officials would be all over this information since
it would be a key way to create more jobs with existing levels of
federal spending. But the power of the military industrial complex
neutralizes these "leaders".

Another important take-away from the meeting was the need to pass
legislation at the state level to create a planning commission to begin
the process of diversification of our military economy. Last year the
state of Connecticut passed such a law and other states are now moving
to do the same.

In the audience last evening were religious leaders, a Bath city council
member, leaders of the climate change movement, peace activists, people
from the green energy field, union members, as well as interested
people from the general public.

Our challenge now will be to bring together a diverse group of people
from across Maine to get this planning commission legislation moving in
the state legislature next year.

UKRAINE SURRENDERS TO IMF-WORLD BANK

Ukraine's President Poroshenko violates his own ceasefire by continuing to shell people living in the eastern part of the country. Then as he signs the Ukraine-EU trade deal he says that people in all parts of the country support the controversial plan to turn his country over to the international IMF-World Bank cartel. Did he forget that his army is shelling folks in the east who don't support the plan?

Everything is perception management.... Kiev calls for a ceasefire and then shells their own citizens in the east and blames them for defending themselves when 'Right Sector' fascists attack them. Then he tells the western media that the whole country supports turning the Ukrainian economy over to corporate interests.

Into Ukraine will come Monsanto with their GMO crops, in will come the western oil corporations, in will come the US military industrial complex, and in will come NATO bases and 'missile defense' systems right on Russia's border.

The US-NATO are calling the shots in this on-going drama but the people reading or watching mainstream media outlets won't really know what is going on at all. Those managed media outlets are doing the spin work of the very corporations now turning Ukraine into a corporate client state.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

PERMANENT WAR ECONOMY

The idea that the Great Depression was finally brought to an end by
the onset of WWII has been a staple of history textbooks, documentaries
and various war propaganda for decades. This myth continues to be
perpetuated to the present day.

The idea that war is good for the economy is, needless to say, a
fallacious argument which itself is based on incorrect economic data.

HOW DO WE REACH A PEACEFUL & SUSTAINABLE FUTURE?

The peas are starting to bud in our back yard at the Addams-Melman House in Bath, Maine. We named our house after WWI-era peace activist and social worker Jane Addams who won the Nobel Peace Prize back in the day when you really had to earn it.

The other half of our house name comes from Seymour Melman who was professor of economics at Columbia University in New York. He is regarded as the father of economic conversion and during the late 80's to early 90's that issue of converting away from military production was driving the peace movement as the Cold War came to an end and we were promised a peace dividend.

But George H. W. Bush (the former director of the CIA and son of WWII era Nazi sympathizer Sen. Prescott Bush) got the minds of the American people redirected with the Panama invasion ('Operation Just Cause'). Soon after came the Persian Gulf War in 1990 and daddy Bush sent hundreds of thousands of US troops (and many National Guard units) to Iraq for the cakewalk it turned out to be. (During that time I drove across much of the US and virtually every small town had signs up cheering on their local sons who were sent to Iraq. The mass war indoctrination was well organized.)

Before the Persian Gulf slaughter began the US used satellites to pre-identify all of Iraq's military targets. Then in the first 2-3 days of the war the Pentagon bombed 95% of those targets leaving just a tiny sliver of capability in place that the military played cat and mouse with during the remaining weeks of the war. The bottom line is that the US Space Command called that 'war' the first space war and its primary purpose was to field test and show the world how the Pentagon could use space technology to direct the destruction of anyone that dares to stand up to corporate globalization.

During the years since the end of the Cold War we've seen the continuing escalation of US military development under the guise of fighting terrorism. Massive amounts of tax dollars have been shoveled down the high tech spying and war making rat hole. Social programs and the nation's physical infrastructure have been hollowed out - justified as debt reduction imperatives.

The corporate oligarchy doesn't need the US for manufacturing when much cheaper labor can be found overseas. Instead our role has become 'security export' as we send our youth to fight resource battles that only benefit the 1%. Our manufacturing sector only builds weapons for endless war. It's gotten so bad that industry in the US hardly has the skill to make tools anymore and doesn't presently have the ability to build rail systems and the like. This did not come to pass by chance.

The oligarchy leaves nothing to chance anymore. And if the people can be kept docile the whole process can be accelerated.

Thus we come back to Jane Addams and Seymour Melman. Their positive vision of a peaceful nation, caring society, and independently skilled work force is fading in memory by the day. Unless we stand up and hold these images of a kinder and more sustainable society in a public way they will be lost to the future generations.

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

EUROPEAN POLICY WAS HIJACKED

Are preliminary talks under way to avoid an all-out civil war or is it
just a smokescreen? Are the Europeans pushing hardest for a peace deal?
And does Putin's Russia have a long view of the Ukraine crisis?
CrossTalking with Eric Kraus, Nebojsa Malic and John B. Quigley.

THE WAR GOES ON....

It
appears that the ceasefire has had a bigger impact on the big cities of
Lugansk and Donetsk than in the smaller cities on the frontline like
Slaviansk or Kramatorsk were combat operations have apparently
continued. Furthermore, as Juan has reported, Ukrainian troops are
further being resupplied and reinforced. The junta's Minister of
Defense has officially confirmed that the notorious "Battalion Aidar"
death-squad, which had been wiped out by the NDF, was being re-formed
and re-trained with new soldiers. Igor Kolomoiski appears to be the
person financing this effort.
There
are now officially half a million refugees from the ex-Ukraine now in
the Rostov-on-the-Don region alone. 400,000 refugee centers have now
been created in Russia east of the Ural Mountains. The US ambassador to
the UNSC has denied that there is a refugee crisis. To Uncle Sam half a
million refugees are, apparently, invisible, just like the 275,000
Serbian refugees from Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo are *still* invisible
to the West.

Then the Ukranian insider (Juan) shared this latest news from the eastern battleground:

1. There was and
is no 'cease fire' in Novorossiya. Right sector/nats guard never
stopped their attacks and bombardments nor have units of Ukraine Army.
We know what West Media is saying, blaming all incidents on us. They are
liars. We can not stand down while under attack from the enemy.

2. Bombardments of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Donetsk City, Lugansk City and outlying towns and villages continues day and night.

3. Smerch missile systems are now in the Lugansk and Donetsk City areas. Confirmed eyes on.

4.
Ukraine is now deploying by artillery anti personnel mines. These mines
have no 'inert date' in them. Confirmed, eyes on. We will be losing
civilians for years after the fighting is over.

5. Reports of 400 soldiers of 25th Airborne Regiment leaving the combat area are not confirmed.

6.
Large areas of the Novorossiya/Russia border are under Novorossiya
control. There have been scattered attacks by Ukr Army on some of our
border posts. Attacks were not successful. No known civilian casualties
in these attacks.

7.
Many thousands of Novorossiya civilians are crossing the border with
Russia to escape the bombardments and attacks on them. At some crossing
points traffic is backed up for more than 5 kilometers. Confirmed, eyes
on.

8.
Krasni Limahn is still not secure. Our troops are involved in scattered
fighting in the area. Novorossiya has made an effort to remove the many
civilian bodies in the streets and buildings of Krasni Limahn
in areas that we control.

9.
Neither Donetsk Airport nor Lugansk Airports are totally under control
of Novorossiya. Scattered fighting is ongoing in both areas.

10. The Mi24 shoot down yesterday is confirmed. The helicopter was not full of 'cease fire monitors' as Kiev says.
It is confirmed the now deceased occupants were all combat armed Ukr soldiers.

11.
Slavyansk and outlying towns and villages are completely cut off from
water, gas, electric and sewer systems. The only water available is from
wells and streams. Food supplies are dwindling rapidly. Novorossiya
Army is making efforts to get food in to the areas. These efforts are
contested by the enemy even though clearly marked as to their purpose.
Confirmed.

12.
The systematic bombardments by Ukr Army of Novorossiya cities, towns
and villages has several purposes. One is to terrorize and drive out as
many civilians as possible, leading to the death and wounding of many
innocent civilians. Second is to cut off water and electric to all
civilian areas possible. Third is to destroy as much of the physical
plant and industry including mines as possible.

13.
Ukraine Army is laying
minefields in civilian and uncontested areas. These fields are
unmarked. Confirmed loses of civilians and livestock in the minefields.

14.
Two carelessly driven Ukr Army trucks became mired in mud near one of
our outposts. We are in possession of the contents and drivers of both.
Drivers are now members of Novorossiya Army at their request. Contents
of both trucks are a welcome addition to our supply train and were quite
interesting.

15.
07:17 25 June fierce fighting ongoing in Slavyansk area near foot of
Karachuk Mountain. Mountain is bombarding Slavyansk and under
bombardment from our mortars. We do not have long range artillery to
bombard all of Karachuk. Casualties are unknown at this time.

16.
24 June and 25 June, confirmed eyes on strong armor columns of Ukr Army
including main battle tanks and light tanks are moving and deploying in
the Donetsk City and Lugansk City
areas.

17.
Partisan activities in Kharkov area are ongoing. Confirmed a large
column of fresh right sector/nats guard replacements was ambushed and
suffered significant casualties and vehicle losses. No known casualties
for the partisans.

19. My evaluation of your Watershed Moment analysis: Shows and tells pretty much everything in the overall view with
most the players and actors mentioned. The only problem is the situation
is so fluid what is true this morning may not be true at noon. As
I said some time ago, you and a lot of the posters on blog are
intellectually so far above this poor old grunt I've got to look up to
see your feet. That being said, the post was pretty complete and well
laid out in the analysis of the options and actions of both sides of
this war. Easily understandable even for my poor tired brain. The moral of our boys is extremely high. Those I talked to Sunday
were tired but very upbeat and that's putting it mildly. There has
indeed been a sea change in the last week or 10 days. A massive attack
on Lugansk City and Donetsk City proper is expected by Friday at the latest. There are again rumblings of a concerted gas attack in
the opening bombardment. Kiev is desperate to force VV to intervene. He
won't unless civilian casualties from a gas attack are huge. And they
will be and will be blamed on our boys if the gas attack is done.
Casualties will be bad enough from the preliminary
bombardment. Kiev is massing everything they have for the bombardment
right down to slingshots. I
know the downed chopper is being ID'd as an Mi8. My sources are pretty
adamant the one they saw go down was an Mi24, in the same general area
and with roughly the same soldier load. If it's an Mi24, why so few
soldiers? Full of some kind of special cargo? Perhaps two birds got
waxed?

CANARY IN THE MINES

The state of Michigan has turned the city of Detroit over to corporations. The once vibrant auto manufacturing metropolis is now in haggars and is being privatized. This will soon enough be the 'perscription' for most struggling cities across the nation. The recent Veteran's Administration (VA) scandal is being used to push for privatization of the VA. Some politicians are already suggesting that very thing....right on schedule.

News reports reveal that the corporate-run city of Detroit is preparing a campaign to shut off water service to 1,500 to 3,000 customers a week who are delinquent on bills. There are also more than 296,000 residential accounts – more than 154,000 of which are delinquent.

Love that phrase.... "commercial operations specialist". The greed of Wall Street has taken over Detroit and water is being privatized. There are no jobs there and where can people move? If you can't afford to pay - tough luck. Get on your knees and beg and maybe we'll give you a few plastic bottles of war at a discount. The cynicism of these 'leaders' disgusts me.

In Ukraine word comes that more than 400 members of Kiev's Army Airborne Division have given their letter of resignation saying they don't want to kill their fellow citizens. Very inspiring, particularly since I'd previously heard that the Kiev military junta had been threatening conscripts with 15 years in jail if they didn't go to war. It appears obvious to me that Poroshenko's some what disingenuous 'cease fire' proposal on some level must be connected to the constant mutineering of the pirate's crew.

Russia's Putin, wanting to show maximum cooperation, has requested that the upper house call off the March 1 resolution
allowing the Russian head of state to use the armed forces on the territory of
Ukraine. Actually many inside Russia, and many outside, have been critical of Putin for not using military force to protect the citizens in eastern Ukraine who have been under fierce attack by the US-NATO regime in Kiev. But clearly Putin has seen that war with the west would not be good for the world. On the other hand there are many Russian oligarchs (just like in Detroit) that are eager to get along with the west and make money in the process. Russia is a capatalist system and intends to milk its natural gas and oil reserves as long as possible.

My favorite blog on Ukraine is The Vineyard of the Saker. He writes about the latest twist in the Ukraine-Russia-US-NATO chess game:

I will therefore limit my analyses to credible options:

Russia
has concluded that the Ukrainians simply do not have the means to take
over and ethnically/politically cleanse Novorussia and that covert aid
is enough to secure the future survival of Novorussia.

The
EU and Russia have successfully bought Poroshenko away from US
supervision and are now trying to take control of the situation.

Russia
is trying to offer the most symbolic concessions in preparation for an
inevitable breakdown of the negotiations and a subsequent Russian
intervention.

Russia is buying time, just enough to have the Ukie economy collapse and the resulting social explosion to overwhelm the junta.

Russia
is offering a symbolic concession which more or less guarantees that
the Europeans will not have to crash their own economy in further
US-demanded sanctions.

Of those options which is the best? In my opinion the most credible one is the one which combines them all: I think that they are all true.

I just got back last night after spending several days with my son in Kansas City. He brought 17 kids (and many parents as well) from Taiwan to Kansas City for a national middle/high school debate tournament. Despite being new to debate, and somewhat language impaired, six of the kids made it to quarter-finals and were given awards in the final ceremony. You could tell it meant alot to the kids and the parents. We had lunch with some of the parents and kids at a Chinese restaurant and they were effusive about Julian being in Taiwan coaching their kids. I was very impressed with the parents that I met and saw that they valued family and cooperation in a big way. Makes me happy that Julian is in good hands there.

Monday, June 23, 2014

HOW DO WE EVER END WAR?

Sunday, June 22, 2014

NAZI'S CONTINUE TO RAMPAGE IN UKRAINE

US supported fascists in Kiev tried to attack a religious anti-war service being held inside a monastery. The church activists planned a procession against Ukraine signing the EU Association Agreement and the "anti-terrorist" operation in the eastern part of the country.

After they were done at the church the Nazi's turned and trashed Russian banks.

It is obvious that the US-NATO installed regime is using the Nazi Right Sector to intimidate and help suppress any real opposition to the government throughout the nation.

One blogger ironically says, "In Western Europe Nazism is banned. In Eastern Europe it is sponsored. By the West Europeans. Go figure..."